Planning Chief highlights McKinley School restoration plans with School Board

Presents plan to create neighborhood Middle Schools to lower transportation costs

By Barbara Taormina

REVERE – The City’s Chief of Planning and Community Development, Tom Skwierawski, met with the School Committee last week and updated the board on the McKinley School renovation without mentioning the 145-foot radio tower that’s part of the project. The school district is developing an early education center that will share the McKinley building with offices for the city’s Parking Department, Retirement Board and the regional emergency 911 call center, which will serve Revere, Chelsea and Winthrop. The radio tower is needed to ensure consistent communication with first responders, but it has raised questions and concerns about health, public safety and a decline of property values among the McKinley School neighborhood and the City Council.

Skwierawski focused instead on the city’s efforts to enliven a historic building and restore it to its original grandeur. “We are creating some beautiful public spaces in the front,” Skwierawski told the committee. “We are planting a lot of things — trees, shrubs, grass. It will be a great amenity for the neighborhood.”

The early ed center will be in the older original section of the building. There will be four classrooms on the first and the second floor. There will be an outdoor and indoor playground. The third floor will have be adaptable indoor play center that can be used by children during the day, and during the evenings it can serve as a place to hold community meetings and events. Superintendent of Schools Dianne Kelly said that a large central corridor that divides the two sections of the building will be a welcoming center for families bringing their children to the ed center.

“I’m just so excited about the early education program and the city programs,” said committee member Stacey Bronsdon-Rizzo. Although some committee members had questions about parking, they seemed to agree with Rizzo that the early ed center is a welcomed addition to the district.

The Zoning Board of Appeals has tabled the city’s request for variances for the height of the tower and the side setbacks. They will continue that discussion at their meeting later this month. The city has also requested a study to determine if the radio tower can be shortened. It’s possible the tower height could be reduced by 40 feet.

Creating neighborhood Middle Schools

The city has begun the complicated task of creating neighborhood middle schools to avoid the ever-increasing cost of student transportation. Chief of Planning and Community Development Tom Skwierawski said the plan is focused on ensuring all children are placed in schools that can meet their individual needs. Skwierawski added that planners will make sure that ESL students and students on IEPs are distributed throughout the district. Also, to maintain equity, students who are eligible for free lunch and students from various racial and ethnic groups will also be distributed among the middle school districts.

“We have to make sure we are not concentrating on student groups in certain schools,” said Skwierawski, adding that the city needs to be mindful of potential civil rights lawsuits. “We want to make sure we’re keeping an eye out.”

The new middle school models, which will rely more on students walking or biking to school, will also consider the path children take to school to ensure it’s safe. Also baked into the new middle school models will be room for growth. Skwierawski said the Suffolk Downs development will bring more children into the system and the city needs to be prepared.

Skwierawski said the data and design of the new middle school districts is expected to be ready by December or January. He said the plan is to present three different scenarios to the School Committee for their ultimate decision.